Lakers Entering Jackson Pursuit?

Laker Executive Vice President Jerry West acknowledged Thursday night that the team has explored the possibility of offering its vacant coaching job to Phil Jackson, including discussing the parameters of such a financial deal.

In response to a Fox Sports News report that negotiations were underway between the Lakers and Jackson’s agent, Todd Musburger, on a potential four-year, $20-million package, West said no offer has been made to Jackson and said “it would be wrong” to presume a deal was near.

“We’ve talked about a lot of different parameters to a couple different people,” said West, who added that the team has had similar discussions with Kurt Rambis, who finished the season as the interim coach.

“There’s going to be a lot of speculation out there.”

But West did not deny that Jackson, winner of six titles with the Chicago Bulls, was a prime Laker prospect.

“I would say he’d be a very attractive candidate, yes,” West said.

The Lakers, who have traditionally not paid coaches huge salaries, could pay Jackson or any other high-profile candidate upward of $5 million a year, West acknowledged.

Del Harris, while with the Lakers, earned one of the lower salaries in the league--about $1.2 million.

But, though several Laker sources have said for the past few weeks that the Lakers would never meet a $5-million asking price, that does not mean owner Jerry Buss is not prepared to do that now, West said.

“I think Jerry Buss has always pretty much paid the going rate for coaches, except in the last two years,” West said. “I think he wants to do everything he can, explore every avenue that he can and see what can be a better fit for us, or if there is a better fit.”

West said he had not personally spoken to Jackson about the possibility, but did not comment when asked if he had been speaking to Musburger.

Musburger, reached early Friday morning in Chicago, said he would have no comment on the matter for now.

Earlier Thursday, West, back in town after a quick trip to Chicago for the pre-draft camp, said the Lakers were making sure to explore every possibility in the coach search.

“None of us believe that he’s a bad coach,” West said of Rambis. “Obviously, Kurt is somebody we feel good about.

“But there are other people we have interest in and we’ll explore all our options, like we said from the beginning. . . . We’re still looking around a little bit. We’re going to explore all of our options and then make a decision accordingly.”

West said he had no firm deadline in mind for naming a permanent coach.

But he emphasized that the team needs to make a firm commitment to whomever they hire.

“We’d like to find the person we feel confident in and comfortable with and make the kind of commitment to him where there’s not a question every year who’s going to be back and where the team is going,” West said.

“We’ve got to get away from that.”

When asked if he had made a decision about remaining with the Lakers next season, West, who suggested during the playoffs that he needed to discuss some things with Buss, did not directly address the question.

“That’s an old story,” West said, adding that he and Buss have had several discussions since the end of the season.

“We’ve had a number of talks. Very, very productive talks. About the state of the team, and if that’s about me, yes.

“Most of it has been about what we have to do as a team to get us back, to do what’s best for our organization.”

West also said that the team is under no immediate pressure to make personnel changes, even though the draft is June 30. The Lakers are expected to exercise their $7-million option on Glen Rice before the July deadline.

Rice has been the subject of several trade rumors--either for a draft pick that could net UCLA’s Baron Davis or, more wildly, Scottie Pippen, though a source recently stressed that the Lakers are not about to pick up a $14-million-a-year salary with a payroll that already could top $50 million next season.

“We’re not looking to trade Glen Rice,” West said. “We’re not looking at making a lot of changes. We weren’t looking at making changes last off-season, and then we did.

“We want to make sure we make the right decisions this time. We want to explore all our options and do it right.”

Pacers at Knicks

Game 5: Tonight, 6 p.m., Channel 4

With Ewing out for the season, Smits was expected to take control for the Pacers. But it has been Camby taking center stage. Page 9